The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-11-30
THE ROAM TRAGEDY.
a NEW DEFECTIVE IN rnF rlEI.p
WIKI Tolls Some Alleged ocourrsncss of In
tsrsst while Hunting Evidenos-Capt.
burnett In Danger From a Mob-rhs
ConfeMions Said to DO aesure.

The murder OF Rev. Thomau P. Ryan In
Roane county, and tho subsequent tragic
death Of TIRES men at the hands Of n mob,
are still taking a good deal Of the public
attention In that part OF the State as well
aa elsewhere, and not strangely 80. The
latest publication Of interest appeared In
the jackson Herald, and 10 printed below.
Speaking Of the alleged confessions, how.
ever, 1t is we'll to retlsc. thst oven II they
are genuine, nobody a tca!iiy that they
are 80 without ~betrsying his guilty knowl.
edge Of tho lynching. Tho article may
demand to be- taken with several grains OF
allowance; |! folIows:
Ten days or more ago q stranger put
In az appearance here, representing him
sell ss a detective. &c camou up the creek
| with a drummer and alter staying over
night passed on to Roane county. The
new man is oil medi1m height, and 10 up.
pBrently about 10 years old, hair is
s%pripkled with gray, face 10 smooth, ex-
cept a mous:echc, and badly dcarred. He
waa fairly dressed III a brown suit, and
had the appearance OF n man who had
seen eome OF the world. He naid his name
was Wolls, that he was from New York
and had been sent here to ferret out tho
Ryan affair expressed in very iorcible
profanity II bad opinion OF Burnett, who,
he said, was only q self.constitutod de.
tective and not recognized elsewhere by
the detective world. he talked very
freely, and yet after he had been In
tho Herald Office an hour and an.
swered every question asked him we
felt as completely In the dark concerning
his purposes and information as before.
He aaid that no had occurred the confes.
siona OF Coon and Duff, the ball that
killed Ryan, and other eyidoncea and left
them all III possession Of 81 Counts. He
left here again Saturday afternoon Tor the
scene OF tho recent tragedy, returning
Wednesday forenoon. He was still as free
10 talk as evor and reGited what lie claimed
wore his ad yentures Of the four days pre-.
vious. Detectives Burnett and Baldwin,
and Dan Cunningham had gone into the
kentucx country Monday, returning to
Charleston Tuesday afternoon. The al.
legged New York detective says that,
hearing Burnett was going to arrest s,
Counts, he proposed that O posse OIL
three or four go with him 10 Counts to
arrest Burnett K o., when instead, the
first thing be knew men came from every
direction, with guns OF all descriptions,
until tho crowd numbered two or three
hundred that. seeing the purpose WOE to
mob Burnstt and force, he refused to lead
them, when lie was hiesed; that he told
them it wa no use, he was there to vindi.
cate the supremacy Of tho law, and would
not be a party to murder; DO left them
and stayed all night at Skeen's store. He
Gays a woman brought him word while
out there that Burnett and crowd would
surrender Themselves at any place oisafsty
Tho 10 thinks they will do, as none OF
them can be convicted, which he says
tho mob undorntands perfectly. He went
towards Cottageville Wednesday after.
moon. Who he ia We don't pretend to say,
but iutnish our readers all we know shout
him, from which they can form their own
conclusions"